Municipal Redevelopment Authority outlines opt-in program to help Connecticut towns boost housing and downtown development

David Kors, executive director of the Municipal Redevelopment Authority, briefed the Commerce Committee on the agency’s statutory authority, outreach and early activity, saying the authority is a voluntary, flexible tool that municipalities may invite to help accelerate housing and downtown redevelopment.

Kors told the committee the Municipal Redevelopment Authority (MRDA) was first established in statute in 2019 and later amended to enable partnerships with municipalities outside the Capital Region Development Authority’s territory. "We are voluntary, we are flexible, and we are very broad in terms of the ways in which we can support communities," Kors said, describing a four-step process that begins when a local legislative body passes an opt-in resolution following a public hearing.

The nut of MRDA’s work, Kors said, is targeted geography: the authority will certify zoning only for areas within a half mile of a passenger rail or bus-rapid-transit (BRT) station, existing or planned, or within a statutorily defined downtown. "We certify whether or not their zoning will likely facilitate a substantial increase in the number of dwelling units," Kors said, noting that what is…